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Viable Eimeria oocysts in poultry house litter at the time of chick placement
- Source :
- Poultry science. 98(8)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- The purpose of this study was to determine if Eimeria oocysts recovered from litter at the time of chick placement in commercial broiler houses contained oocysts that were infectious for chickens. Over 100 litter samples were collected from 30 poultry farms representing a total of 60 different broiler houses with 9 houses sampled more than once over 1.5 yr. The samples were collected just before the placement of newly hatched chicks and after an anticoccidial drug (ACD) or Eimeria vaccine (VAC) program, and processed for counting oocysts followed by Eimeria species determination using ITS1 PCR. Broiler chicks were inoculated with recovered Eimeria oocysts to determine if the litter oocysts were viable and capable of causing patent infection. At placement, E. maxima (Emax) oocysts were detected in 70 of 75 houses after ACD program and 46 of 47 houses after VAC program. Eimeria acervulina, E. praecox, and/or E. tenella (Eapt) were detected in 75 of 75 houses after ACD program and 47 of 47 houses after VAC program. Viability testing revealed that 33.0% of broiler houses contained viable Emax oocysts, while 46.9% contained viable Eapt oocysts. During VAC programs, the concentration of Emax oocysts at placement and the total number of Emax oocysts shed by chickens in viability studies showed a very strong correlation (r = 0.83). Likewise, during ACD programs, the concentration of Eapt oocysts at placement and the total number of Eapt oocysts shed by chickens in the viability study showed a strong correlation (r = 0.62). In general, Eimeria oocyst levels at placement and number of viable oocysts shed by chickens in the viability study were similar among houses on the same farm. However, the number of Eimeria oocysts shed in the viability studies was considerably less than expected based on the number of oocysts given. These data suggest that nearly 100% of all poultry houses contain Emax and Eapt oocysts at placement with 30 to 50% of the houses containing viable Eimeria oocysts, thus possibly representing a source of the protozoa to newly hatched chicks.
- Subjects :
- Litter (animal)
Protozoan Vaccines
Veterinary medicine
animal structures
animal diseases
Poultry house
Eimeria
03 medical and health sciences
parasitic diseases
Animals
Poultry Diseases
030304 developmental biology
0303 health sciences
biology
Inoculation
business.industry
Coccidiosis
fungi
Vaccination
0402 animal and dairy science
Broiler
Oocysts
04 agricultural and veterinary sciences
General Medicine
Poultry farming
biology.organism_classification
040201 dairy & animal science
Housing, Animal
Eimeria acervulina
Eimeria species
Animals, Newborn
Coccidiostats
Animal Science and Zoology
business
Chickens
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15253171
- Volume :
- 98
- Issue :
- 8
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Poultry science
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a83a02e22bbb7fd10583881a9ef27152